Jake's Values

Leadership
As the City's chief executive, the mayor sets the tone and direction for the municipal government. I have a proven track record of organizational leadership, articulating a vision, uniting the organization in pursuit of priorities, and driving progress toward those goals. I identify bright minds who get work done and I get the best out of people. I've previously successfully instilled a service-oriented organizational culture of innovation, collaboration, and respect. I'm accustomed to making difficult decisions using the best information available, then communicating those decisions effectively and implementing them with an action plan.

Communication
A well-informed electorate relies on effective communication and access to quality public information. Currently the City's communications approach is more akin to public relations work. While telling good stories certainly is important, the City should be committed to get all out all news. In order to have productive public processes, we need to make sure the public is aware of public hearings, neighborhood meetings, community events, and surveys. We will do this by meeting people where they are and letting people specify how they want to receive communications – via email, text, phone, mail, or by push notifications from a new City mobile app. And by allowing people to specify what they want to hear about, we can increase the chances that every communication is relevant.

Availability & Accountability
A key part of public service is being available to the public. I've done regular office hours and on-demand office hours from the very beginning as your councilor-at-large, and I'll continue being accessible to the public as your mayor. City staff work late on Thursdays, and the mayor should as well, so my plan is to do office hours on Thursday nights whereby constituents can sign up for a slot ahead of time and we'll keep some slots open for walk-ins so people can talk to their mayor. We need to get back to a policy of the Mayor's door always being open. I love being out in the community, so I won't need to hold listening sessions to know what the public is saying.

Transparency & Efficiency
Local government should make lives better. I'm obsessed with improving government transparency and operational efficiency. In my time on the council, I've spearheaded efforts to simplify and streamline the budget review process and added public input on the budget as Chair of the Finance Committee. I've also worked to increase community involvement in decision-making. In pursuit of greater efficiency and productivity, I've pushed for improved interdepartmental coordination and creative solutions. As mayor I'll establish a culture of process refinement to examine whether we're serving constituents in the best way possible.

Collaboration & Coordination
The challenges we face – housing affordability, public infrastructure, public health, and even rats – don’t stop at the city line. For too long, Somerville has operated in isolation from our neighboring municipalities, even as our regional issues have grown more intertwined. Cooperation between cities is a basic function of local government; collaboration takes it further. Collaboration, between elected officials, municipal departments, and community organizations, enables policies to move in tandem rather than in isolation. By building trust and open communication across city halls, state representatives, and civic networks, we can design solutions that match the scale and complexity of the problems we face. As mayor, I’ll make regional coordination a core function of city leadership—aggressively pursuing partnerships and coalitions with neighboring policymakers to deliver real, regional solutions to shared challenges.